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India’s PFBR attains criticality at last
Prime Minister Narendra Modi proclaimed it “a proud moment for India” when on April 6 the 500-MWe, sodium-cooled Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) achieved initial criticality. This milestone, which comes some 22 years after the continually delayed PFBR project began, marks India’s entrance into the second stage of its three-stage nuclear program, which has the ultimate goal of supporting the country’s nuclear power program with its significant thorium reserves.
Jordan Crowell, Eleodor Nichita
Nuclear Technology | Volume 209 | Number 4 | April 2023 | Pages 504-514
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2022.2135334
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Small Canadian arctic communities rely on diesel generators for their electricity needs. Providing such generators with fuel year round presents logistical challenges because of inclement weather and the long transportation distances involved. This work presents the conceptual design of a 10-MW(thermal) microreactor that can be used to provide 3.5 MW of electricity as well as district heating to arctic communities. The reactor has a lead-cooled and graphite-moderated core with 13 vertical fuel channels containing high-assay low-enriched uranium fuel enriched to 10%. The core is enclosed in a unpressurized reactor vessel and is passively cooled through natural convection. Stirling engines are used to drive the electrical generators. The hot cylinders of the Stirling engines are located in the unpressurized reactor vessel and are heated directly by the primary coolant. Preliminary neutronic and thermal-hydraulic analyses of the core indicate that the design is technically feasible and that the reactor can function for 2 years and 9 months without refueling.